The girlfriend of whistleblower Edward Snowden has broken a four-month silence to post a series of enigmatic photos on her online blog in what might be a coded message to her exiled lover.

Ballerina and pole dancer Lindsay Mills, 28, who lived with Snowden in Hawaii before he exposed US government spying secrets, has added cryptic titles to the pictures, made up of punctuation symbols, perhaps using visual clues only he would understand.

They are her first communication with the world since the spying scandal exploded in June, which led to Snowden fleeing to Russia and sent Ms Mills into hiding with friends in America.

Code? Edward Snowden's girlfriend has posted a series of photos on her blog, which may be a coded message to the NSA whistleblower

One photo on her blog – lsjourney.com – shows Ms Mills reclining on a beach in a bikini, turning her back on the camera as she faces a glowing sunset.